Gov. Parris Glendening has made it official: The
state of Maryland will join in purchasing 477 acres of Bayfront land on
the Shady Side Peninsula, thereby removing the last major hurdle to preserving
the sensitive tract.

"I will absolutely guarantee you that we're going to buy that property,"
Glendening asserted, speaking during an interview this week in the offices
of New Bay Times.

His words marked the governor's first public commitment to the project
since Anne Arundel County Executive John Gary agreed last spring to provide
up to $3 million as the county's share in the purchase. Glendening said
that he plans to make a formal declaration of the state's intention when
an appraisal of the land is completed in coming days.

But the governor left little doubt the state will join the project, which
means contributing half of its roughly $6-million price. He vowed to complete
the purchase before his first term ends in January.

"That acquisition will take place. It will take place," the
governor said, repeating himself for emphasis.

The governor's words are sweet news to Shady Side residents-turned-activists
who waged a long and often rancorous crusade to block development on the
acreage, known locally as Franklin Point.

Developers, led by Washington businessman Dominic Antonelli had worked
for a decade to convert the land to housing, most recently a 152-home subdivision.

"You'd think I'd be jumping through the roof now but it really hasn't
sunk in that this is happening," said Michael Shay, a leader in Southern
Anne Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development, SACReD. Shay, of Churchton,
said that thanks also is due Gary and Antonelli for agreeing to the arrangement.

Joseph Browder, an environmental consultant from Fairhaven who has worked
behind the scenes to negotiate the arrangement, said the governor's words
were welcome news that was a long time coming. "Everyone is going to
be so happy when this actually happens, and the governor wouldn't say what
he said if it wasn't going to happen," noted Browder.

A string of roadblocks thrown up by outraged people in the community
helped persuade Antonelli to sell rather than pursue development. No long-range
plan for using the land has been drawn, but it is likely to be used primarily
as a park. Gary, who has given the preservation project a big boost, has
said that he would like to see part of the acreage converted into baseball
diamonds.

But there is likely to be a strong effort to keep the brunt of the acreage
and its marshlands in pristine shape.

Glendening said he considered the purchase a wise investment.

"You're not going to get a tract this large, this sensitive, very
often," he said during his hour-long visit to New Bay Times.

The governor said that preparations for purchase have taken longer than
he'd hoped because he wants to avoid criticism that he is doing developers
a favor. "If we did anything in the acquisition that wasn't 100 percent
according to the books, there would be people who would immediately yell
'look, he bought a piece of property from someone he's known for 25 years."

In committing to the purchase, Glendening enhances a record of land preservation
that includes the $25 million purchase of Chapman's Landing in Southern
Maryland along with other threatened acreage in Howard County and in Western
Maryland.

In the New Bay Times interview, the governor noted those achievements
as part of an environmental record that he said contrasts sharply with the
record of his Republican challenger, Ellen Sauerbrey.

Glendening asserted: "I think [the Chesapeake Bay] would deteriorate,
I really do. She voted against Critical Areas, against clean water. You
could go down the line, one thing after another. So if that's her orientation,
what's she going to do in the future?"

Regarding the Franklin Point purchase, the governor said: We have the
resources to do this now because of the surplus that has been built up.
Now's the time to buy it. We're paying cash. We won't have any interest
charges or anything like that."

Glendening said that he has been guided in his land purchases over the
years by advice from Louis Goldstein, Maryland's long-time comptroller who
died in July. "Louie used to say, 'the good Lord isn't making any more
land'," Glendening said.

Editor's note:Keep reading NBT for the entire interview, in
which Glendening speaks candidly about his political troubles and his worries
about the future of Chesapeake Bay.

Such was the theme of last Thursday's ceremony on Annapolis' City Dock.
School kids, citizens and bureaucrats joined in trumpeting the cause of
non-polluting commuting against a backdrop of the latest alternative fuel
vehicles, called AFVs for short.

The point was to prove that alternative fuel vehicles are not only here
but also on the roads and in a few driveways - perhaps, eventually, yours.

The idea of moving commuters in non-polluters has taken hold in Annapolis,
illustrated by the new, environmentally friendly trolley introduced that
day. Converted to run on compressed natural gas, or CNG, the Louis L. Goldstein
can start taking travellers through city streets now that it has a place
to fuel up: a newly installed fuel maker, donated by Baltimore Gas and Electric,
at the Maryland Energy Administration offices on Calvert Street.

To honor the city's progress, state and federal officials laid kind words
on Mayor Dean Johnson, praising Annapolis as a role model in the U.S. Department
of Energy's Clean Cities Program, a national effort to erase air pollution.
Certificates and citations changed hands before Johnson got the prize that
counts: an oversized $150,000 check from the Maryland Energy Administration
to help fund the construction of a new public CNG refueling site in Annapolis.

"Our goal is to cover the whole state with CNG stations," said
Dale Baxter, assistant director of the Maryland Energy Administration. Already,
CNG stations are open throughout the D.C.-Baltimore region. They're a small
step, one of many, in cutting down traffic emissions. Noxious fumes from
our cars and trucks and buses are Maryland's leading cause of air pollution
- which causes acid rain - which in turn pollutes the Bay.

photos by Mark BurnsDale
Baxter, of the Maryland Energy Administration, looks to cover the state
with fueling sites for CNG vehicles.

So why is natural gas the alternative of choice? What about ethanol?
Methanol? Soy diesel? Electric?

"We're going with the flow," answers Baxter. "The fuel
providers for compressed natural gas are more aggressive. Electrical is
getting stronger, but we have to go with the more aggressive one."

The corporate power behind the push is Baltimore Gas and Electric. "We're
still five years off for practical electric cars," said Larry Mattivi
of the utility. "Compressed natural gas vehicles are the AFVs of today;
electrics are the alternatives of tomorrow." Natural gas and bi-fuel
(both CNG and gasoline capable) vehicles prove more affordable and convenient
than the still-prototypical electrics.

To get the bi-fuel package on a new car costs you roughly from $3,000
to $4,000 extra. That big jump can be offset by state tax credits ranging
from $800 to $2,000 and federal tax deductions ranging from $2,000 to $5,000
depending on your car or truck's weight class.

Electric cars break the bank, costing between $40,000 and $50,000. Though
these do get a tax credit - $1,600 state credit and $4,000 federal deduction
- the refueling support isn't yet there to sweeten electric motoring.

Five hundred to 600 CNG-powered vehicles are running across Maryland.
Most are part of corporate or government fleets where the 90-cent-per-gallon
fuel price most affects the bottom line. But there are also citizen AFV
owners. One, District 33 candidate for Delegate Gayle Powell, wrote of her
experience in NBT last week. She joined her bi-fuel Ford Contour with the
menagerie at City Dock, saying, "I love it. It's great."

According to Baxter, she is not alone in her fondness. Though few own
a car of tomorrow, many still like to love them for their potential. As
Baxter notes, "people realize we have to do something to protect the
environment."

Vincent Leggett doesn't let any moss grow under
his feet. Which is quite a knack for someone covering as much watery territory
as he has over the last decade or so researching African Americans who work
and live on the Chesapeake Bay.

Interacting with school groups and presenting his traveling exhibit,
"Blacks of the Chesapeake," Leggett has been a one-man road show
documenting and commemorating contributions of African American watermen
who live and work in Bay country.

At a recent lecture in Annapolis at Maryland Department of Natural Resource's
Information Resource Center (opened this spring to give citizens access
to the agency), Leggett unveiled his latest project, the draft of a book
titled Black Watermen: Saved by Grace.

The publication focuses on the Shady Side/Galesville area in southern
Anne Arundel County, an area Leggett (and others) says has always had good
interracial relations. When repeating that comment recently, Leggett said
a black waterman remarked, "now, wouldn't you throw a rope to a drowning
man?" Black Americans who worked on the water - "just plain workers
who went about their business - were raised sensitively," Leggett says.

The inspiration for the title came from a boat named Amazing Grace, after
a song black waterman know well. Life on the water is hard and dangerous,
and grace always welcome.

Underscoring that point, George Crowner of Galesville once told Leggett
that three of his uncles died when Hurricane Agnes hit in 1972. Crowner
said he and other family members had to go right back out on the water and
raise money for the funeral.

The business of course, was tonging for oysters, crabbing, clamming,
packing, operating dredge boats, piloting skipjacks, making sails, building
boats, processing seafood and fishing pound nets. Joshua Tuttle Hallock,
Leggett notes, was the first black man to set out a pound net in Southern
Anne Arundel County, in 1830. And he mentions many of the names in the region
for more than a century: Crowner, Denis, Gross, Matthews, Nick, Scott, Holland
and others.

For now, Leggett is busy looking for corporate, local business and government
sponsors to publish Blacks of the Chesapeake: Saved by Grace.

In the meantime, the author might want to fill out the narrative of his
book with the watermen's own words. That would be a strong addition to a
book full of photos - taken by Leggett himself - of friendly people with
warm smiles. Those voices would make this one graceful, amazing story.

See the Blacks of the Chesapeake traveling exhibit during the United
States Boat Show at the Seafarers Yacht Club at 602 3rd St. in Eastport.
There's more good reason to stop in, for the African American Seafarers
Yacht Club is this year's hospitality location for both boat shows. Between
noon and 8pm boat show days, all are invited to stop by for refreshment
and nautical talk.

View Vincent Leggett's work in progress any day on at the Information
Resource Center webpage: www.DNR.state.md.us/irc.

Burglar alarms, blinding sprays and pitbulls are
not enough. Somewhere in the country a woman is being raped. Now. In 60
seconds, another will be victimized. The frightening reality is that one
out of every three American women will be sexually assaulted during her
lifetime.

Many women aren't settling for these statistics. Tired of wimpy June
Cleaver and Carol Brady images, they think it's time to kick some butt.

Which is why kickboxing is becoming hip among women. Homemakers, professionals
and movie stars are hopping off treadmills and stairmasters and jumping
out of aerobics classes to try a new kick.

In kickboxing classes at gyms, churches and martial arts studios, women
of all ages are fighting back by pumping up confidence while learning to
defend themselves. Burning up to 1,200 calories a session, the kickboxing
workout is as good for fitness as for self-defense.

"I see results," says Linda Ward of Annapolis who, along with
her daughter Rachel, 26, who has just passed the bar exam, has been using
this fitness training for four months. "I'm stronger, firmer and more
flexible."

Like Ward, many local women are putting the big red gloves on to pack
a punch.

"I haven't felt this good in many years," says Chris Johnson,
who after one year of kickboxing is 40 pounds lighter and good enough to
instruct. "It's great physical conditioning and improves self-esteem."

While kickboxing, originating in Southeast Asia, has a brutal reputation,
this form involves no combat or belts. A typical workout begins with a 15
minute warm-up, then moves into shadow boxing, cardiovascular, punching
and kicking techniques and flexibility exercises.

A classroom of five to 20 students with gloves and bags, kicking and
punching as if they're about to go 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, is a sweat-box.
"It truly is the best workout and it's fun," says Ward, who in
the past exercised in aerobics programs but now takes kickboxing at Merritt
Athletic.

"What sets us apart is that we focus on conditioning," says
Master Instructor Steve Kerstetter of Executive Kickboxing at Merritt, Premier
and Golds Gym, all in Annapolis. "This is not a karate class."

Kerstetter, a third degree black belt in tae kwon do and a member of
the Pro Karate League Hall of Fame and World and International Tae Kwon
Do Federations, has been developing his program for two years.

"I combine boxing and kicking techniques so students learn to condition
and defend," he says.

Curiosity is the attraction, but power keeps women kicking. "Women
are curious at first and then they see what a workout it is," says
Kerstetter. "Some of the women are very impressive. They're eating
this up."

With his motto, "You can rest when you're dead," Kerstetter
assures you will hurt when you leave his class.

"You definitely do not realize how uncoordinated you are until you
take this class," says beginner Angela Jerrell, 24, of Severn, who
joined Kerstetter's class last week. "My shoulders and legs hurt the
next day, but it was good pain," she says. "It was tough, but
he made it fun."

"A woman's strength is in her legs, and when they see the power
they have they really start working," says Kerstetter. The snap, round
and side kicks work hard on the hips, thighs and calves.

Jab, hook, upper-cut, right or left cross and overhand punches tone the
upper body.

Combine these blows, throw in a water-based foam punching bag such as
Kerstetter uses, and June Cleaver's daughters turn into mighty fighting
machines.

The kickboxing workout is not just for buff women. "The advantage
is that it's close to one on one and you work at your own pace," says
Kerstetter.

Though women are swarming the classes, it's slowly becoming popular with
men.

"You can lift weights all day and it doesn't do much for your cardiovascular,"
says Dick Glass, a student of Executive Kickboxing. Glass, retired from
the Navy band, has dropped four inches since starting kickboxing in July
of last year. "I like the aspect of in some ways getting back into
martial arts."

"It's a little like aerobics with martial arts kicks and punches,"
says Victor Battung of Kim's Karate, Kardio Kickboxing in Annapolis. Battung,
a martial arts instructor for eight years, says anybody can do it and adds,
"My youngest student is 19 and oldest are in their 50s."

"It has become the hottest craze," says Kerstetter. "I
think it will be around for a long time."

-Darcey Dodd

Way Downstream ...

Virginians can't decide whether they like
being one of the biggest garbage importers in the country. New legislation
offered by Republican Rep. Bill Bolling is trying to clamp down.
But Brunswick County, where they see cash in that trash, voted last
week to let its local importer expand ...

Following up on last week's frog report, we note
it was in Liverpool that Beatle Paul McCartney says he committed
a sin of his youth: killing frogs. In an interview, McCartney said that
he killed many frogs to prepare himself for the military. One day he quit.
"I saw the lunacy, and I apologize to all frogs," he said ...

In Indiana, where the second of this week's
frog reports originates, there's no truth to the rumor that Taco Bell
is serving frog tacos. A couple failed in an odd scheme to win an insurance
settlement from the fast food company when it was learned that they had
stuffed a withered frog in a double-decker taco, Associated Press reports
...

Our CreatureFeature comes from WashingtonState, where word is that the attack of radioactive ants has been
quashed.

These red harvester ants live a dangerous life to begin with on the grounds
of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Repository. They burrow down 20 feet
deep in areas near waste pipes that were found to have leaked radioactive
materials. If they survive, they crawl back to civilization and do what
ants do.

According to the Portland Oregonian newspaper, pest control workers
poisoned 157 of their ant hills recently and then removed them to what,
as far as we know, may be the only dump site for nuclear ants on the planet.